Book review: Tree of Liberty by Terry Mixon

An Upstream Book Review

This is a book that I initially bought just to support an author whose other books I loved. It was written by Terry Mixon as a post-apocalyptic space opera world set in the not-too-distant future. To be honest, I forgot that it was in my library until Amazon recommended it to me. In digging into it, I realized that I already owned it! So, I downloaded it and gave it a listen. I wasn’t sorry, that’s for sure! I kept reading, obviously, since this is the third book in the series.

Before we go any further, let me show my bias. I loved Terry Mixon’s Empire of Bones Series and his Last Hunter Series that he co-wrote with JN Chaney. I was already a fan of his work when I started this novel. I went in expecting to like this series. It’s written like many of his books, in a 3^rd person POV with multiple main characters. If you don’t love that, this novel isn’t the book for you. However, this is my jam, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Okay, about this series. There are currently four books written in this setting. I’m already invested and hoping for more! I’ve heard rumors that Terry might continue telling epic adventures in this universe when his writing schedule clears up. I have high hopes, since I want more from this awesome author. I’ve met Terry in person and he’s as nice there as he is online. He truly engages with his audience and values them. He’s thankful that they let him get paid to share these romps through the voids of space.

Now, more about the author, Terry Mixon. He’s a former US Army crew chief, where he worked on keeping the whirly birds in the air. He was a non-commissioned officer in the 101st Airborne Division. I too was a sergeant in that division, so points to him! In case you didn’t know, leg lives matter. After he left the Army, he spent some time working for NASA. He played Solitaire working alongside the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

His job was to support the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and other human spaceflight projects for almost two decades. I have it on good authority that he worked for the department that helps take the moon landing. He was the ‘flat earth’ ambassador to the Chief Administrator of the space program. Over the years he’s shared proof that we faked the entirety of NASA’s supposed space race, but apparently, we’re no longer able to show evidence against the insane global earth cabal. Come on people, censorship is bad, am I right?

Now that I’ve triggered half of the world, I’ll leave it to you to decide what lies you’ll accept and which you’ll ignore. What I will say is that Terry’s knowledge of space travel that he learned from working with NASA showed in how believable the future space program in this world was. I totally bought into the idea that he’d consulted subject matter experts on the topic. He faked it better than I’ve seen in quite a while.

The basic premise of this series centers around the main characters’ quest to take humanity to the stars. If you want to read my thoughts on book one, click here. And then, check out what I thought about book two by clicking here. I clearly enjoyed the first two books, because I’m still reading the series. I hope that gives you some confidence that this is a fun little romp through time and space. Don’t take my word for it, read it yourself and chat with me in the comments below!

Now, in this third novel, those characters are on their little jaunt around Earth and through the solar system, visiting Mars, dead asteroids and everything in between. I loved seeing the main character, Harry Rogers, illustrating the skills that made him an exceptionally talented super special squirrel for Uncle Sugar. And we saw Jessica Cook growing into her role as a partner in Humanity Unlimited. Oh, and while we got to see Harry pew pew the shit out of it, we got to see Jessica… science the heck out of it? Math the crap out of it? Does anyone know what space engineers do besides engineer? Like, math is involved, right?

Anyway, the first book was getting the private space program off the ground, the second novel was about pushing the ship to the limits while shenanigans carried out across the earth they left behind. That all happened against the backdrop of political gamesmanship and political intrigue. In this third novel, the political games bear fruit, the Bennett Problem is dealt with, and alliances are made. I loved this book too, so read the rest of this review and then read the book!

(Published on July 18^th, 2017)

The Story

In this novel, the third in the Humanity Unlimited Series, our protagonists are spread across the galaxy exploring and capturing alien technology. They’re trying to solve the mystery of their disappearance, of Earth B and prepare for the inevitable confrontation with the alien menace. In this mad dash to protect Earth, there are only two sides. Theirs, and everyone else.

In this book, that ‘everyone else’ proposition includes his final showdown with Kathleen and Nathan Bennett. Will they win? Will they die? Can the evil in his bloodline be stopped or will their treachery win in the end? Only time will tell, so read the book and find out for yourself! You’ve been warned, because those two diabolical characters have stolen an alien spaceship and are making friends and enemies across known space.

As those alien revelations set the globe on fire, Harry must stop shadowy enemies from enslaving humanity. If he can. With the help of Jessica Cook, his friend and business partner. Except, Jess becomes more than that in this novel, she becomes a fighter. When her secret base is overrun, she fights to the last bullet to defend her land and went out like a champ. But even the Reaper feared her, because almost dying didn’t stop her from fighting the good fight. After all of that, she was placed into an alien device that might just save her life. Will she live? Will she die? Only time will tell, so keep reading!

Now that we’ve talked about the book’s basic concept, let us dive into the writing! Gotta give it to this author; his novel was chock-full of quality visualization. You can definitely imagine yourself in this future dystopian world that he created! He described things across the sensory spectrum; sights, sounds, smells and even how bleak the world felt. While I could vaguely visualize all of the characters, I’d love it if Terry described the characters’ physical traits in more detail. He kept it light on the details, with just enough specifics to allow you to visualize it for yourself.

In Tree of Liberty, Terry did a great job pacing this book. He balanced the explanation of this future world with the need to move a story along. And boy howdy, this story was a rip-roaring good time. Like I said, this political thriller was a romp through the dystopian future. Plus, a lot more kinetic action than we saw in previous novels. This book didn’t have a single place where I couldn’t picture the scenery, the equipment or space being. I filled in a lot of the details myself, but Terry gave me the scaffolding to make it work. Everything felt tangible and I enjoyed the setting, the prose and the people.

In summary, I didn’t find any issues with the descriptions and was impressed by the literary skills of Terry. I wish he were more descriptive, but he gave you enough to form your own visual image. If you want a pulp era space opera that mated with the post-apocalyptic genre, then this is the book for you!

The Characters

This wasn’t a story where there was only one main character, instead there was an ensemble cast of disparate personalities. I was pleasantly surprised at how well each character was portrayed, given the large cast of main characters. Then throw in the numerous secondary peeps who flitter on and off screen, well hat tip to the author’s skill. Everyone had individual personalities, none of them felt like they were cardboard cut outs. Oh, and none of them were talking heads with no personalities. Given the familial relations of many of the main cast, any similarities can be explained away. To be clear, there were only a few of those likenesses. The ones there were minor and felt intentional. I guess I’m saying that I really loved these characters. The military characters reminded me of my past life as a grunt and the nerdy academic, well she was every female I met in grad school studying history for fun.

Harry Rogers: He is the son of Clayton Rogers and Kathleen Bennett and the brother of Nathan Bennett. He’s a former super-secret squirrel, an ex-Green Beret who works for his security company, Liberty SOG. That is, until he gets brought into an ownership stake of Humanity Unlimited. During this novel, he serves as an American Army veteran version of James Bond turned Indiana Jones. He travels the galaxy, doing the explorer thing as he tries to learn what he can. Once he’s aware of the alien threat, he’s on a crusade to protect humanity by finding technological solutions to humanity’s lack. While he joined to protect Jessica, they split up doing separate sub-missions in this book. He’s the voice of the worldly man, the foil to Jessica’s more innocent personality, though she’s less so now. More than that, he’s a fully fleshed out character outside of his counterbalancing the academic character. He’s shown to be an idealist, who dislikes his dad because of his cutthroat business practices. Except, his idealism is tempered by his willingness to spill blood to protect those he deems worthy. During the course of this novel, he takes on the role of commanding officer of the Liberty Station spaceship and leads the ex-military forces providing security. He seems to grow into his role as a leader of eggheads, vastly different than leading Spec Ops troops across the globe. In the next novel I expect that we’ll see him continuing to grow into his role within the Humanity Unlimited Corporation. He’s already outgrown command of Liberty Station, but big things are in store for him! Some of those, coincidentally, involve the weapons he trained on as he uses gunboat diplomacy to woe the world and win the day.

Jessica Cook: She started as an employee of Rainforest LLC, working for their space department. She’s a space engineer and designed the Liberty Station conversion and revitalization. She served as the Rainforest’s Chief Engineer and was written as an extremely competent woman in her chosen field. She isn’t a Mary Sue; she has things that she isn’t good at. But where she’s good, she’s very good. During the course of this novel, we see her skills in combat while defending the New Zealand base and engaging in political negotiations. She’s become the star of this novel, as she grew and improved her overall levels of badassery. What else will she get better at? She forces herself to handle high stress situations where life and death are on the line as she explores the solar system. She encounters aliens and their descendants. She does so without panicking or whining, Jess just grits her teeth and drives on. Her technical and leadership skills improve, as she becomes the executive officer for Liberty Station and leads portions of the exploration. I like that we see her becoming even more well-rounded, a true Renaissance man. Well, Renaissance Woman? She’s written in the way you want a female heroine to be portrayed; she’s competent, not a man with tits.

Clayton Rogers: He is the ex-husband of Kathleen Bennett and the father of Harry and Nathan. He sold Rainforest LLC, then founded Humanity Unlimited, LLC which he plans to use to break humanity out of the Terran Rut she finds herself in. His new company is also an international company who seems to have their fingers in every pie. During this novel, he takes a more active role in the political shenanigans, setting up the scaffolding that the future new world order will be built upon. He is no longer a means to the end, instead he’s becoming a political player in this global quest for space superiority. Aside from his familial roles, he is there to allow Harry and Jessica do the things and fund the fun. He’s an idealist who invested heavily in his dream of a post-Terran humanity. We hear from him and Harry that he’s done bad things, but I’m unconvinced. I think he’s more of the grandfatherly Mister Rogers type by what we’ve seen so far. And in the end, he shows he’s got balls of steel, a real class act! He still reads as a likeable fella, but he’s a politician and he does a lot of good for the Humanity Unlimited corporation.

Nathan Bennett: He is the son of Clayton Rogers and Kathleen Bennett and the brother of Harry Rogers. He’s a consummate asshole who is the mustache twirling bad guy in this book. He isn’t evil for the sake of it, instead he comes off as just a psychotic sociopath who gets off of his dark deeds. He engages in the struggle snuggle with females, kills wantonly and generally does dirty deeds for the fun of it. He kills when it causes more harm than good, which is why I read him as crazy. Sometimes a character has to kill, it’s understandable, even if done by the bad guy. It seems like his driving motivation is his hatred for his older brother and his father. It's unclear why he hates them, but given who his mom is, I wonder if parental alienation was at play? Regardless, he is an evil megalomaniacal idiot, and I can’t wait until he dies in a brutally glorious fashion. In this novel, we do get to see him as a more competent operator, making him more than just the evil ne’er-do-well. Even better, he finally gets his comeuppance… but no spoilers from me!

Kathleen Bennett: She is the ex-wife of Clayton Rogers and the mother of Harry and Nathan. She owns and runs BenCorp, an international company who seems to have their fingers in every pie. Or what’s left of it after the American political class got involved. She’s got a lot in common with her ex, but she’s a psychotic and evil version of him. She’s the bad guy in this series, the puppet master who doesn’t bother hiding it. Except, now she can’t work through proxy toadies, she has to do her own dirty work. Through the course of this book she’s demoted to a minor baddie, now that the alien menace of this series finally shows up. In those scenes, she dances with the devil, but can she win? Will she outsmart him, or will she get got? Only time will tell! But in this book we saw a lot more of her, as her status quo rocked her back on her feet. So, will she make it out alive? Will she play an even larger role in the final book of this series? Or will she her get her comeuppance.

Josh Queen: He’s the Secretary of State for the United States of American in the not-too-distant future. He’s a bipartisan asshole, who represent the kind of person that both parties hate. If you take the political party affiliation away from name, absent that loyalty, people will want to punch him. He’s a schemer, trying to angle up towards the vice presidency. He appears to care more about his own political ascent than he does his country. He comes off as someone who loves the sound of his own voice and leads his ego, rather than any deep abiding love for God and country. He laments the loss of America’s standing in this future world but becomes part of the problem. He played a larger role in this novel than in the last, but he’s still extremely unlikeable. I really want to watch him get smacked in the face, just once, before the series ends!

Ambassador Chen: He’s a Chinese diplomat and the middleman for the Heavy Worlder secret cabal known as the Dragon. He’s physically fit, cunning and evil, bent on subjugating humanity and enslaving them to his alien overlords. He views them as almost deific, which is weird, but I’ll ride with it and see where it takes us. Like Queen, I want him to get a punch to the face as well!

The World

Tree of Liberty is the third book in the Humanity Unlimited Series, and I absolutely loved it. The world was fleshed out, and everything was explained in a way that made sense. The universe was consistent, with just enough of the mundane facets of life thrown in that it all felt grounded in this reality. It helps that half of the novel was set on Earth as we know it, sorta. I mean, a future version of Earth. But the other half is set in space and that’s where you see Terry’s space opera chops on full display.

Everything in this world made sense and sucked me deeper into the story. Some of the details that seemed inconsequential earlier came up in this novel, so I can’t wait to see what he does with the remaining plot hooks! Those dangling ideas from the plot arc to date makes me think that the larger mystery would continue to grow and expand until it’s solved in the final book. So far the payoff has been worth it. Terry has skills, so I am positive that it will only get better. I really loved reading the scenes of combat with the Revolutionary Era troops on the Volunteer World and against the Heavy Worlders. It was an exciting segment to read and left me wanting more.

During those scenes, Terry showed his baseline understanding of basic squad tactics. He made no obvious blunders, likely a residual from his time as a crusty Army sergeant. Was he a grunt? Well, nobody’s perfect. But he learned enough to make the combat scenes pop and focused on the aspects that moved the plot forward. Magazines ran dry, bullets weren’t always plentiful, and combat wasn’t clean. Good people died and the survivors suffered through it. I loved that he used these combat interactions to add heightened stakes in this world, it made for a better read.

Throughout this book, Terry built upon the legwork of the previous novel, more specifically with the way captured or acquired gear became useful and the eggheads made discovers that gave them access to the almost magical alien technology. Throughout those scenes he added enough new details to make the setting pop. Every base and spaceship felt unique, but real. He fed us those new sensory details in a way that didn’t feel like an info dump. There was never anything he described that I couldn’t envision, or that felt like it wasn’t “real.”

Another aspect that I enjoyed about this world was how he showed the political aspect of this sci-fi thriller. There were enough similarities to modernity that I understood it. The world felt like home, but one viewed through the funhouse mirror. He kept the timeline far enough out that the readers’ political allegiances to modern parties didn’t stop them from enjoying Tree of Liberty. In fact, I don’t remember Terry mentioning a single political party. It was just one corrupt politician after another. Even corrupt alien politicians! There were generic liberals versus conservative, but those terms can and do shift over time. So, any inference to the D vs R would be internalized from the readers perspective. Instead of writing a story lauding one party over the other, Terry highlighted a corrupt system in a time when the American empire has fallen. She’s no longer a superpower and struggling to reassert her dominance. That made for some interesting reading and left me wanting more.

When describing the world, Terry was light on the details… but not so much that I was lost or experienced the floating head syndrome. I could always picture the scene in my head, watching it in the movie theater of my mind. Despite being a bubblegum summer mystery read, Terry has upped the bar of excellence, adding more sensory input to the mix, sights, sounds, smells, and feelings.

Overall, the world building was well done, and I was sold on the way it happened. It felt believable, and the characters fit within the universe Terry Mixon created. Like most of the stories I read, this one didn’t take itself too seriously, which allowed you to focus on the fun which is why I read in the first place. And nobody, and I mean nobody, does fun better than Terry ‘Moon Landing Faker’ Mixon.

Politics

This world has plenty of internal politics, though it is only part of the plot for this adventure. Since it is a near-future world, the geopolitical shenanigans don’t directly tie into our status quo. The story does touch on the issue of political corruption, but I like to think that condemning such topics is a bi-partisan endeavor. That said, this is a space thriller novel. Those are all about politics and the consequences of corruption. The story is set in a world where America is a fallen empire, the caliphates rule Europe and the world is in chaos with only India and China left as viable polities. If that bothers you, move on, but I found the disconnect between this novel and the real world made this one a non-issue.

Content Warning

This novel would be appropriate for anyone over the age of 16. This is most certainly not a children's book; the amount of violence and implied rape marks this one for mature audiences only. In Tree of Liberty, there was less of the implied violence against women by the bad guys. Those guys start to get their due, the piper has come calling for Nathan Bennett. Again, none of those activities happened on screen, but they were implied. As for the violence, what was there wasn’t gratuitous. We didn’t see the gore or splatter porn, that part of it happened after the scene faded to black. There was a fair amount of gun play, as the bad guys did bad things, and the good guys made them pay with their lives. It definitely felt like something that felt worth mentioning. I know that this can be a sensitive issue for some families. It wasn’t overly gory by my standards, but your mileage may vary.

Narration

I enjoyed this book exclusively in the audiobook format. I won’t rehash the one issue I had with the transitions, that horse is already dead after the last two reviews. Instead, I’ll say that this narration was well done; the accents were consistent, and I didn’t want to rip my ears off. There wasn’t a whole lot of range from the character accents, but the narrator did good! This isn’t a dig at Veronica Giguere, the narrator, but the cast of characters in this book was tight so there wasn’t a huge call for a slew of accents. Also, bear in mind that I’ve suffered hearing loss while chasing dragons for Uncle Sugar, so your mileage may vary. I will say, the accents that Madam V did were well done. Seriously, I’d listen to more books by this narrator, and I even listen to her order her dinner or hire her to work some of my stuff. Wait, I did hire her for some of my anthologies. Her audiobook was of a professional quality, so I had nothing to complain about! She didn’t commit the Cardinal Sin, which is my only real requirement; she didn’t sound like a robot, she didn’t bore me, and she didn’t use accents that annoy the bajesus out of me!

Who is it for?

This book is for anyone who loves Stargate and Indiana Jones, with shades of Cain and Able thrown in for good measure. If you are a fan of political thrillers set in the near future, peppered with military action, this is for you. Throw in a budding alien menace, and you have a recipe for awesomeness!

Why buy it.

In this novel we sailed past the events that put the plot in motion and watched as a galactic drama plays out across our solar system. We see our main characters facing against the storm that started in a Guatemalan Jungle and ended in space, our not so final frontier. It all leads to one heck of an amazing adventure. If you love a thrill ride through a worst-case post-apocalyptic future that turns into a space opera masterpiece, this is the novel for you!

Once you buy and read the book, come back and share your thoughts! Oh, and be sure to leave a review!